Baba Yaga 9 (27)

We Are All Mad Here

Baba Yaga (sometimes called Frau Trude) lives many lives and has many personalities. She is both one wiitch and many. She uses her magic to create a new version of herself each time her life takes a new branch, following all of them at once, becoming every version of herself that she might have been. Some versions of Baba Yaga are helpful. Others harmful. Some Baba Yagas live in the woods in a wooden hut that walks around on chicken legs, some fly through the sky in a mortar and pestle, and some guard any wild spaces that they have deemed important. Some capture and cook young children in a special stove. Some do all of the above.

Health: 21

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)

Movement: Short; long when flying (on a broomstick)

Environment: (Other)

Combat: Baba Yaga can use the following abilities: heal, hexbolt, imprison, protect, revive, shrivel, and vitality.

• Heal: The witch touches another creature and heals them for a moderate wound (6 points). Some witches must pull health from another living being in long range in order to use this ability. Pulling health from a living being inflicts a minor wound (2 points) on that being.
• Hexbolt: A victim within long range is attacked with fire, cold, or psychic bolts, as the witch chooses. Psychic bolts deal 3 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor).
• Imprison: The witch creates a prison within long range and captures a foe inside it as a single action. The prison might be physical (a tower, a cage, a trap, a binding around the body) or mental (they can't move, their muscles are no longer under their control, they are afraid to move). Resisting being caught is a level 5 defense task (Might, Speed, or Intellect, depending on the type of imprisonment). If a character is caught, breaking free is a level 5 task (of the appropriate stat).
• Revive: This rare and costly ability allows a witch to bring someone back to life, as long as they haven't been dead for more than a year. In order to accomplish this, the witch needs all or part of the body of the dead, a beloved object of the dead's, and the willingness of someone else to take on a curse that results from the magical working (roll on the Curse table to determine the resulting curse). Revive takes ten minutes to cast, and the character returns to life with 1 point in all of their Pools.
• Shrivel: A victim within long range and up to two creatures next to the victim must succeed on a Might defense roll or take 3 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). In each subsequent round, a victim who failed the previous roll must make another Might defense roll with the same outcome on failure.
• Vitality: The witch regains 11 points of health and gains +3 to Armor for one minute. Multiple uses don't further improve Armor.

Interactions: It is almost impossible to know which Baba Yaga you have met until you look deep in her eyes (a level 7 Intellect tasks). There, you might see a tiny flame, and in that flame, learn a bit about her life.

Uses: Baba Yaga has her long, bony fingers in nearly everything that happens. She might be behind the counter at the herb and potion shop, guarding the entrance to a cave full of treasure, or offering her services in breaking (or casting) curses.

Loot: 1d6 cyphers, an artifact, and various other odds and ends